The Knowledge Era takes a giant step forward
I just completed the design and teaching of the inaugural Search Engine Optimization for the Web class at Macomb Community College. One of the points I regularly made was that the web and search engine optimization (SEO) is constantly changing. Yesterday, Google proved me right once again.
Google announced its latest advancement in search – the “Knowledge Graph.” Google’s contention is that up until now, searchers used search engines to find information. But in this day and age, the real search is for knowledge. So, you might start seeing different types of search results when you conduct your next search. The next time you search for a particular term, Google will not only give you its typical result, but will also open a panel on the right-hand side of the search results page showing facts, information, and other things it knows about the subject. They are making the transition from information search to knowledge search. The video below from Google explains this change:
Google refers to this change in philosophy as building a “knowledge graph.” Now the questions become, “What impact will this have on search engine optimization? Do we continue optimizing our sites for fresh, authoritative content? Will the ‘Knowledge Graph’ change what is deemed as authoritative content? How will this impact search engine optimization (SEO) techniques?”
We’ll monitor this and let you know what we hear …
Get results with websites based on audience research, not on opinions
As a new web designer, my workflow was typical of a freelancer. My designs were reflective of the client’s preferences. I asked questions like:
“What colors do you like?”
“Could you point me to some other sites you like the look & feel of?”
“What menu navigation & pages do you want?”
Clients loved this approach. They felt like I was addressing their concerns, listening to what they wanted, and providing good service. Years later, I’ve come to realize this couldn’t be further from the truth.
Most of the sites I built based upon my client’s desires didn’t perform well. Sure, they were happy at the project’s end and signed a nice little form for me to say that they approved the launch of the site. After launch, not much happened. The sites look nice, and many are still sitting there. They function more as a glorified brochure for the business than a vital, central hub of marketing & results for the company.
After watching this happen over the span of a few years, I knew my process needed to change. Although the clients loved the website when we launched it, their customers simply didn’t. And that’s who every website needs to be built for.
The website process is totally different now. Clients communicate to us what their business objectives are and who their audience is instead of their favorite colors & websites. My web team does thorough research to figure out the places on the web where our client’s customers “hang out.” We find other sites they are loyal to, services they use regularly, brands they follow, media they consume. What are the customers used to seeing? What do they expect from a website? How can we build a place on the web that they WANT to be?
And then we build that site — even if it isn’t what the client pictured in their mind. The client, however, never cares — because the websites get results.
Customer preferences should always be the basis of any marketing decision, from design, to message, to delivery. Throw opinions out the window — at least if you want success.
If a web designer, graphic designer, or anyone else asks for an opinion instead of figuring out what the customer wants, well … that’s just embarrassing.
Note: For a slightly profane look at how the design process can go wrong, please view this comic from The Oatmeal.
It’s time to get something off my chest. Since the intersection of the Great Recession and web revolution, the value of writing (and writers themselves), took a nosedive. For those whose passion is writing, and whom expect to be paid decently for this talent, it has been a frustrating half-decade.
Many companies, in an effort to cut spending due to recessionary budgets, turned to overseas content writers. Myself and many writers (out of work, as the first departments cut are always marketing, advertising, and public relations) figured, hey — I’ll just freelance until the next job comes along.
Then reality hit. Freelance rates were at levels that an American could simple not survive on. When someone is offering to write a 200-page book for $20, how does one compete? Or worse, before Google began to crack down on lousy content, link farms and spam sites had foreign writers churning out barely-legible copy for 50 cents a page, or less.
Although the online community heard since 1996 that “content is king,” (see Craig Bailey’s post http://www.craigbailey.net/content-is-king-by-bill-gates/ ) many professional writers were replaced by folks from other professions such as web designers, programmers, analysts, and the like, due to cuts in budgets and downsizing. The absence of professional writers and editors became more and more apparent. The evidence for this is all around — thousands of posts on the most basic elements of proper English and writing styles.
And it’s not that professionals with expertise in other fields should not write! Indeed, the digital age has, for better or worse, cleared away the so-called gatekeepers and allowed people from all walks to life to opine and write about their knowledge, experience and feelings. This can be a very good thing.
But there is a vast difference between a professional American writing about his subject expertise, and someone thousands of miles away simply expected to “churn” content.
Fortunately, times are changing. Google’s new algorithms and a rising awareness that lousy copy equates to poor conversions (and thus sales) is changing perceptions. Corporate leaders who simply must get their message out amongst the flotsam and jetsam need folks who can write clearly and cleanly.
Yes, you can still hire folks in Russia, India, or Bangladesh for pennies per hour. And they will quickly bang out copy about your product or service. But their writing will reflect that English is not necessarily their first language, and that they don’t know American culture, our colloquialisms and euphemisms, or — most importantly — your audience and what their needs are.
In the end, you get the content you pay for. If you want to be cheap, you will look cheap.
And that’s just embarrassing.
For additional information, see the Content is King infographic.
As a practicing search engine optimizer, it’s always comical when we get automated phone calls, or even real ones, from the guys who “work closely with Google, Bing and Yahoo” and can guarantee us a first page ranking on the search engines.
I shudder at the thought of a real prospect returning that phone call.
The truth you will hear from most SEO pros is that no reputable company should be promising you the first page. Moreover, real SEO firms don’t promise guaranteed results. Unless, of course, they guarantee that they’ll work very hard for you and you still might not see page one. That’s the only safe guarantee.
So what other kinds of promises are being thrown around by dodgy SEO “pros” these days? I’ve put together a short list of my “ones I’ve heard”.
1) I’ll get you to page one while also being a solo artist / coder / SEO / copywriter / marketer / candlestick maker.
There are whole companies dedicated to performing just one or two items on that list. How could it be possible for one single individual to do all of those items, and do them well? The answer is that it’s usually not, unless you are that person’s only client and you are paying very well. Even then, it’s likely they will be stretched thin, and one (or all) of these areas will be lacking.
2) We’ll get you hundreds of inbound links within 30 days.
Sounds like a plan! Some of these folks have testimonials on their websites, BBB logos, VeriSign Trusted symbols. Doesn’t matter at the end of the day when more influential folks, like, say, Google, explicitly say this is against their Webmaster Guidelines.
3) We’ve cracked the Algorithm and know exactly how to get you to spot 1 in Google!
Some people question whether or not Google has cracked it’s own ever-changing algorithm. How could it be some outside agency has figured it out? With algo changes being made every few days, the only answer I can come up with is mind-reading.
4) We’ll submit your site to hundreds of search engines.
That’s great, but, how many people use other search engines besides the Big Three? Dear reader, how many other search engines can you name? This is no longer a relevant tactic — you can be found pretty much everywhere anyways, since most other search engines will likely index you on their own, and still send little relevant traffic your way.
So, if the SEO company you are thinking of hiring says any of these things, well … that’s just embarrassing.
It is customary for Google to make 40-50 changes to its search algorithm each month. It’s that time again — Google just announced the changes to its search results for April 2012 (http://www.seroundtable.com/google-updates-april-15111.html ).
As consultants that frequently work with small businesses to improve their revenue, we monitor these changes, and study the impact that they potentially have on small businesses. We share these with our clients regularly, but this month we thought we would share our thoughts with you.
Many of Google’s changes this month are minor and don’t impact most sites, but there are usually a few each month that are potential game changers. This month’s changes include some that we ought to pay special attention to. Here are the ones we think you ought to address in your online marketing efforts:
- Google has changed how it decides on which snippet (i.e. the description about your page that shows in under the title of your page in the search results). They are now pulling more content from the beginning content on your pages to show as your description. This makes that 1st paragraph very important.
- It is not longer a guarantee that the Page Title that you place in your website code will show up in the search results. You will need to pay very special attention to the words you use in your page titles, and which order you place them in.
- Google gives higher search rankings to sites with regularly updated (“fresh”) content. This month, Google made a change so that low-quality fresh content does not boost search rankings.
- The location of the keywords on your page has become a much bigger deal. While Google does not want you to stuff keywords either above or below “the fold”, the specific location that they are at has become more of a ranking of signal.
- A change was made so that “authoritative content” ranks ahead of content that Google deems as less authoritative. They use several factors to determine authority, including how often the content is shared and linked to. Blogging for the sake of keywords and “more content” on your site is a thing of the past.
- “Better query interpretation. This launch helps us better interpret the likely intention of your search query as suggested by your last few searches“ (http://www.seroundtable.com/google-updates-april-15111.htm). The impact to site owners is that the content on your pages must be focused and very relevant to your targeted keywords. Tighter content makes it more likely that your site will match the searchers intent in the eyes of the search engine…i.e. – you will rank higher for those search terms.
There are several other updates that are worth noting, especially related to local search. I suggest that you check out the updates!